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Dreams and Relationships in Shaping Celia’s Character Identity

Dreaming Cuban is a novel that circles around love and dreams, and this can be evidenced by the character traits of Celia. These two major themes have greatly influenced her character identity as she is depicted as a revolutionary woman both in her relationships and her aspirations. Celia is an ageing matriarch in the family of Del Pino. When she was a young girl, she fell in love with Gustavo, a married Spaniard. However, her relationship did not last for long as, during the Cuban Revolution, Gustavo returned to Spain and left Celia, heartbroken. Since she cannot take away the memories of her first love Gustavo, she constantly wears a pearl earring that was given to her as a present and has been a constant reminder of their passion. According to the narrator, Celia has only removed the pearl earrings for only nine times, and at this time she was cleaning them.

However, after Gustavo left, Celia is left alone, and this compels her to make another move into a new relationship. She reinvents herself through engaging in a relationship with Jorge del Pino. However, her relationship with George was full of abuse as all her in-laws, including George’s mother and sister abused her, making her feel uncomfortable in her marriage. Due to the heartbreak and the constant abuse, Celia developed mental illnesses, and this made her incapable of looking after her children effectively. She can’t forget her first love, and she continues to wear the earring she was given by Gustavo. Through this, it is evident that familial relationships have played a significant role in shaping the character of Celia as ever since she began dating she has never been the same again. A transition from a loving husband to an abusive husband is an environment that is capable of shaping the character of a person, and this is what has happened to Celia. From a naïve woman whose responsibility is to love and care for the family to a person who has mental conditions, thus making it hard for her to look after her family.

Since she has nothing to lose, Celia decides to be a revolutionist as she is a loyal Socialist. She proudly volunteers to the revolution and helps in various ways such as harvesting sugarcane, judging local disputes in the town hall as well as watching for invaders from her porch swing overlooking the northern coast. Celia did not love her husband, and therefore, her marriage was not fun, this was one of the factors that helped shaped Celia’s identity as she became a hard woman who got used to abuse, she longed for freedom. Jorge del Pino was diagnosed with cancer, and therefore, after he moved to New York for cancer treatment, Celia replaced his photo on her nightstand with one of Fidel Castro, a revolutionist.

Celia’s decision to replace her husband’s photo with that of Fidel Castro was not only because she never loved him but because she longed to be a revolutionist as well. She dreamt of embracing the dictator on a red velvet divan. However, her passion to be a revolutionist led to the division of her family and therefore, despite being independent, she cannot care for her family as they left one by one. Through this, we learn that Celia’s dreams of becoming a revolutionist have also reshaped her identity to the extent that she has become independent and doesn’t care about her family. She doesn’t want to be any leader but wants to be like Fidel Castro, a dictator, and this has been highly motivated by her experience in an abusive marriage.

Works Cited

García, Cristina. Dreaming in cuban. Ballantine Books, 1992.